FedEx Address Type Override: Residential vs Commercial Shipping

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This article is for 3PL operators and client admins who use FedEx Ground or FedEx Home Delivery and have noticed that residential shipping addresses are being flagged as commercial during the rate shopping or label generation process, resulting in unexpected carrier charges.

Before You Begin

Make sure you have access to the Order Property Override table in InfoPlus. You will need admin-level permissions to create or edit override records.

You should also be familiar with:

How orders move through the fulfillment workflow in InfoPlus
The difference between FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery
Your organization's parcel reconciliation process

Why This Happens

When InfoPlus processes a FedEx shipment, it checks the shipping address against FedEx's address database to determine if the destination is residential or commercial. If FedEx returns an unknown or unverified address, InfoPlus defaults the shipment to commercial.

This can result in a FedEx Ground label being generated instead of a FedEx Home Delivery label, even when the address is residential. If FedEx later confirms the address as residential after delivery, additional charges may appear on your parcel invoice.

How to Identify the Issue

Open the order in InfoPlus and look for this system tag:

ipsys-parcel-address-type-check-failed

This tag appears on the order when InfoPlus received an address validation error from FedEx and defaulted to commercial delivery.

If you see this tag, the address did not validate successfully and InfoPlus applied the commercial default. Use the steps below to override this behavior.

Steps to Override the Default Behavior

You can configure InfoPlus to treat unverified addresses as residential instead of defaulting to commercial. This setting can be applied at the client, client/LOB, or client/LOB/Order Source level.

Go to the Order Property Override table
Click Create New
In the Order Property field, select: Parcel > Unverified Addresses > Submit As Residential
In the Override Value field, select True or False based on your preference. See the table below for expected behavior.
Click Save

Override Value	Expected Behavior
True	InfoPlus will submit unverified addresses as residential. This prevents the commercial default but may result in additional FedEx charges if the address is later confirmed as commercial.
False	InfoPlus will continue defaulting unverified addresses to commercial. Use this setting if your volume is primarily commercial and residential misclassification is rare.

CAUTION: Even when address validation succeeds, a FedEx driver may override the classification at the time of delivery if they determine the location is residential or commercial. If FedEx later confirms the address as residential, a price adjustment can be added to the shipper for the difference in cost via the parcel reconciliation process.

What You Should See

After saving the override, new orders processed through the affected client, LOB, or order source should no longer default to commercial when FedEx cannot verify the address. The ipsys-parcel-address-type-check-failed tag will still appear on orders where validation failed, but InfoPlus will submit those orders as residential instead of commercial.

If you continue to see commercial labels on orders with residential addresses after applying the override, proceed to the troubleshooting section below.

Troubleshooting

If the override setting does not resolve the issue, or if FedEx continues to change a residential flag to commercial during rate shopping, try the following steps.

1. Adjust Address Formatting

FedEx may fail to recognize an address as residential if it is formatted incorrectly. Inconsistent formatting can prevent a successful match in FedEx's address database.

Try these formatting corrections on the customer record:

Spell out directional abbreviations (N, S, E, W) as North, South, East, West.
Spell out street types (St to Street, Ave to Avenue, Blvd to Boulevard).
Remove special characters from address lines (periods, commas, pound signs).
Confirm the ZIP code matches the city and state on file.

2. Create a FedEx Delivery Manager Profile

FedEx Delivery Manager allows address owners to set residential delivery preferences directly with FedEx. When a profile exists for an address, FedEx is more likely to classify it correctly during rate shopping.

If your customer has not already done so, recommend that they create a FedEx Delivery Manager account at fedex.com and confirm the residential classification for their address. This does not require any changes in InfoPlus.

3. Check Mapping Apps

FedEx uses third-party address databases to classify locations as residential or commercial. In some cases, a mapping service may have the address listed incorrectly.

To verify the address classification outside of InfoPlus:

Search the address in Google Maps or Apple Maps and confirm it resolves to a residential location.
Check if the address appears as a business in search results, which may signal a commercial classification in FedEx's database.
If the address is misclassified in a mapping app, the customer can submit a correction directly through that platform. FedEx may update its classification after the mapping record is corrected.

4. Contact InfoPlus Customer Support

If the address formatting looks correct and the override is in place but shipments are still defaulting to commercial, submit a support ticket. Include the following information:

The order number(s) affected
The shipping address in question
Whether the ipsys-parcel-address-type-check-failed tag is present
The current override value setting and the scope it is applied at (client, LOB, or order source)
Screenshots of the order record showing the issue

Next Steps

If FedEx adjusts the address classification after delivery, review any resulting charges in the parcel reconciliation process. Related articles: